The new water-sports facility that will host the 2017 FINA World Championship this summer was named the Danube Arena, and its symbolic key was handed over by the mayor of Budapest, István Tarlós, to three-time Olympic champion Katinka Hosszú, who, among her teammates, can soon use the swimming pool. The FINA Championships will be held in Budapest and Balatonfüred during July 14-30, during which the Danube Arena will host the swimming and diving competitions – and soon after that, the general public is welcome to make a splash here, too.

“We celebrate today; I can say on behalf of the swimmers that we’re very happy about the completion of the Danube Arena. This solves our problems concerning the water area immediately. When stepping into this facility, I already feel how great it will be to compete in a domestic environment in the summer. Now it’s our turn to prepare so that the Hungarian fans will enjoy themselves at the Championships,” said Katinka Hosszú at Tuesday’s ceremony, in anticipation of the FINA World Championships this summer.

While British and American companies assisted with the designing of the Danube Arena, and one of the largest French construction companies organized the construction of it, the new facility with a capacity for 15,000 spectators was built exclusively through the support of Hungarian investors, said Balázs Fürjes, the Government Commissioner for Priority Investments in Budapest.

At the ceremony, members of the junior, adult, and para-swimming teams inaugurated the 50-meter-long warm-up pool: the first two lengths were swum by Péter Bernek, Márk Papp, Tamás Novoszáth, Noel Novoszáth, Bianka Papp, Oszkár Lavotha, Evelyn Verrasztó, Dániel Gyurta, László Cseh, and Katinka Hosszú. They tested the diving towers, as well: Flóra Gondos and Barnabás Gács were the first to plunge off the LED-decorated structure.

Tamás Gyárfás, the Vice President, and Cornel Marculescu, the Romanian Executive Director of the FINA Bureau, also attended the event. “It’s a fantastic facility, it’s so spacious that when I enter, I feel like I’m in a stadium,” said Cornel Marculescu, adding that he finds it amazing how quickly the construction was completed.

Budapest Mayor István Tarlós called the construction the largest sports investment of the past 80 years, and the FINA Championship the largest sporting event of Hungary, which poses great challenges, but “today proves that we can successfully prepare. Budapest will be able to show its best side during the Championship, given that we don’t mess up our communication,” Mayor Tarlós noted, also referring to the high-diving competition, the broadcast of which will feature the Parliament in the background.